Tiger and Snake

1862

Eugène Delacroix

Painter, French, 1798 - 1863

A crouching tiger to our left bares its fangs at a hissing snake wound around a tree to our right in this nearly square painting. Yellow eyes gleaming, the tiger stretches its front paws forward with ears pinned back, teeth bared, rump in the air, and its tail curling down near its back legs. The white fur of the tiger’s underbelly near the front legs glows in the sunlight. Light glints off the skin of the snake, which coils around the tree twice and flicks its forked tongue between gaping jaws. The grassy area around the tiger is painted in shades of gold, green, and mustard yellow. Behind the tiger, a sage-green plain stretches back on our left to rocky hills in the distance, with hints of blue sky and clouds beyond. The tree frames the scene on our right, its gnarled, split trunk extending off the top edge of the canvas and its roots reaching beyond the bottom edge, where the artist signed and dated the work: “Eug. Delacroix 1862.”

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Marquis de L., Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 4 February 1865, no 12); Paul van Cuyck, Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 7-10 February 1866, no. 7); Comte d'Aquila, Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 21-22 February 1868, no. 8); Hermann, Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 10 February 1879, no. 8). Th. Leroy; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 13 May 1882, no. 16). (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris);[1] (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), August 1882;[2] purchased 14 November 1883 by Mary J. Morgan, New york;[3] (her sale, American Art Galleries, New York, 3-15 March 1886, no. 188). Henry M. Johnston, Brooklyn, New York;[4] (his sale, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, 20-28 February 1893). (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); purchased 1899 by H. S. Henry, New York;[5] (his sale, American Art Galleries, New York, 25 January 1907, no. 13); William A. Clark [1839-1925], New York; bequest 1926 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.
[1] According to M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Painting Stockbook 3, 1-4368, 1875 December-1883 December, page 182, the painting is stock number 4053.
[2] See previous source.
[3] According to M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Painting Stockbook 4, 4369-8799, 1883 April-1899 April, page 6, stock number 4053.
[4] Johnston's sale catalogue states that the work was formerly in the collection of Durand-Ruel, Paris.
[5] Henry's sale catalogue lists Knoedler as the former owner.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1889

  • Antoine-Louis Barye, American Art Galleries, New York, 1889, no. 582.

1899

  • Union League of Philadelphia, 1899.

1956

  • Visionaries and Dreamers, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 7 April - 27 May 1956, no. 3, repro.

1978

  • The William A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 26 April - 16 July 1978, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1989

  • The William A. Clark Collection: Treasures of a Copper King, Yellowstone Art Center, Billings; Montana Historical Society, Helena, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro., as Tiger and Serpent.

1998

  • Delacroix: The Late Works, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1998-1999, no. 133, repro, as Tigre attaquant un serpent enroulé à arbre, ou Tigre et Serpent.

2001

  • Antiquities to Impressionism: The William A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 3 November 2001 - 4 February 2002, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2005

  • Fierce Friends: Artists and Animals, 1750-1900, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 2005-2006, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: Eug. Delacroix 1862

Wikidata ID

Q46629060

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